Columbia Pediatrics Medical Group

I love, love, love this group!!! My son sees Dr. McFarland and she is like an extension of our family. When my baby needed same day care it’s easy to get an appt with any of the drs, and when I had questions at night or on the weekend the on call service was right there for me. All the nurses are wonderful! Calm, knowledgeable, and helpful. Being a first time parent, with a preemie baby, I feel taken care of and would recommend this group to any parent. Another plus is they have two separate waiting rooms for sick and healthy kids! Peace of mind is priceless!!!

Absolutely love this practice! My children have been under Dr. McFarlands care for 10+ years and we have always been satisfied with her service a medical advice.

Rating based on Dr. McFarland is a 10+. She is a wonderful, caring, and personable doctor. She truly cares about her patients’ well being. She naturally connects with kids. But my rating on staff/​wait time is a 3 and that’s being generous. The other big problem I have is the wait time. They really need to make an effort to demonstrate they value our time. Waiting a long time in waiting room followed by waiting a long time in the patients room is not cool.

Love them all! I’ve been bringing both my kids here since birth. All the doctors are so sweet and amazing! So much that I referred both my sister’s here once they had their babies. They’re really good at scheduling around your child’s schedule. They squeeze you in if you need a walk-​in. Jocelyn, Liz, Jenny and Samiya are absolute sweet hearts!

I’m sad to say my little guy is a frequent flier here. That said, I’ve been with Kaiser, and two other practices before ending up here. They have friendly and helpful staff from the front desk, to the nurses, to the pediatricians on call. We’ve made it through over half the doctors of the medical group so far. While everyone has a different personality and style they are all knowledgeable, supportive, and thorough in their practice. My son has gotten excellent care here from his check ups to sick visits. Let me add over half our visits are same day visits due to unexpected illness. They are excellent at squeezing in him same day and the wait is never too long (within 15 mins of the scheduled time). They are supportive of breastfeeding, don’t push unwanted parenting advice, and always take the time to answer all our questions. It also doesn’t hurt that their clinic décor is totally adorable with the sea theme. It’s always in impeccable condition and has a sick and well partitioned waiting area.

Being a first time mom, it was really daunting looking for a pediatrician for my son. Luckily, I was able to find Columbia Pediactrics. My son has been seen by Dr. Chou, and let me say, she is fantastic! She’s never spoken down to me, takes my concerns seriously, and she clearly knows her stuff. What’s better is that she genuinely seems to like babies! I’ve spent many years working in healthcare administration, and I know the waits can be frustrating. But it’s nice that the doctor spends more than 10 mins with my son and actually does more than glance at him. My baby had some issues with cradle cap, and Dr Chou recommended a homeopathic treatment first. Unfortunately, my little guy’s scalp got worse, but it was nice that she didn’t immediately wrote an Rx for an infant. The nurse help line returned my call in a timely manner, which was super appreciated, and I was given time in the exam room to nurse my baby after his vaccines to calm him down which was also very considerate. The only issue that I have is with what seems to be a lack of communication between the billing office and the front desk. Prior to our appointment in the new year, the billing office called me ahead of time to get my new insurance information. She verified it with me still on the phone and said she’d pass it along so it would be waiting at my appointment the next day. Imagine my surprise when I was told on checking in that they needed to verify my insurance. I’ve been there, literally, that’s been my job. But it seems very redundant and gives the appearance that they don’t really communicate well.

There is one great doctor here but the others are mediocre at best. I was told by one doctor that I’m the mom so I know if my kid has bronchitis. This was just because he couldn’t get my daughter to take deep breaths to hear her lungs. Shouldn’t pediatricians be used to kids. We also had a major health issue that took one doctor almost a year to figure out. Looking back at that it was horrible. They have also sent us to the emergency room during flu season to wait for an ultrasound. A five hour wait during flu season with a small child is a bad idea. They could have ordered an emergency ultrasound if they felt it was that necessary. Would never recommend this practice.

We had Dr. Quan for the 1^st time today and my son just adored him!!! He was crying that he didn’t want to go on our way to the office and was crying when we left because he wanted to go back and play with Dr. Quan! Fabulous bedside manner and very professional. Columbia Pediatrics keeps giving me more reasons to love the team!

Great doctors! Staff is great! We see Dr. Lau who is absolutely the best!
When we are unable to see him, we see any doctor that is available. Always happy with our visits.

It seems they’ve been asking people to write glowing reviews to bury the realistic ones below, so I felt the need to add my voice… We finally switched doctors after giving Columbia many chances. We were referred there by our neo-​natal doctor after our daughter was born 6-​weeks premature. It has been unpleasant since our first meeting. Dr. McCormick, the head of the practice, is incredibly cold. You’d think that someone who works with babies and their parents could actually crack a smile once in a while. Or even pretend to like kids. Nope. Her attitude trickles down to the staff, who are also rude & cold. In addition to the poor customer service, Dr. McCormick has questionable advice: she told me to night-​wean my baby at 4 months so that we could both «get some sleep.» When I said that a hungry baby didn’t seem like a sleep-​aid for either of us, she recommended I just let her cry and she’d eventually go back to sleep. I chose to feed my baby when she was hungry and avoid Dr. McCormick. We did go to one other doctor there who was friendly (I don’t remember her name — she’s blonde), but she wasn’t enough to overcome the negative staff experience. We didn’t know where else to go, so kept returning and hoping for the best. No more. We’re going to see Dr. Livingston or Dr. Wagoner from now on.

I love Columbia Peds! At the recommendation of a friend, we made an appt to meet a doctor before our son was born. We met with Dr. Gaoghagan and felt very comfortable with her. We decided to go with Columbia Peds! After our son was born, Dr. Grewal rounded in the hospital. We have since seen Dr Gaoghagan mostly and Grewal in between. Both doctors are so wonderful and kind! They give lots of time and attention to their patients as well as to their parents. The nurses are amazing. The office staff are also very friendly! Unless you have an appt first thing in the morning or at the very end of the day, you may wait awhile to see the doctors, but I firmly believe it is because of how much quality time they spend with each patient.

Our doctor is McCormick and she is absolutely wonderful. She is straight to the point and she answers all questions. If you have a question over the phone the nurses try their best to help and the location is immaculate. And the parking! Tons of it. We love this office and doctor

I love Dr Lau and Dr Malhi. I never feel rushed they always take there time answer all my questions. They are great with the kids. My son loves Dr Lau and his drawings! There new office is very nice and there parking situation is so much better at this location. I recommend this practice to all of my friends and family!

The doctors at Columbia are for the most part very nice and caring, we have seen Dr. Quan since our little one was 3 months. The nurse that we see is always very pleasant and nice! We had some issues before in the wait times to see the doctors when we made an appointment, but I’m happy to say the last 3 times, the doctor was basically waiting for us. We love the new location, very clean and modern. The only thing it’s missing are toys or activities for the kids to play with in the waiting room. Free parking is also a great chance from the old. They really do push the vaccinations on you, so if you’re hesitant, maybe isn’t the place for you.

Was a little nervous after seeing that they only had 3 stars and mixed reviews on Unilocal.I have been in a few times with my children 2 & 5 and so far have received quick service and good advice.

Update for 2014 to current 2÷14÷15.
Since my last update we’ve had many more visits since we are proud parents again to a now 9 month old baby boy.
I feel most of the reviews are marked down due to «customer service». Our son was born 4÷26÷2014 I’ve had the opportunity to meet some of the doctors I’d never met before. In the hospital we met Dr. Gahoegan. She had wonderful bedside manners. Took a history and decided our son would need to stay inpatient due to jaundice. From previous experience I can tell you that although it was hard to go home and leave him under the lights. It was a difficult decision but sure beat driving back & fourth to have his blood levels checked. She said if we opted to take him home we’d be bringing him back & if level went up we’d have to bring him back to stay.
My others sons were seen by some of the other pediatricians all of whom were always nice, knowledgeable & spent the time with us to review options for treatment.
I’ve never had a bad experience with front desk. I can say that yes I’ve had to wait but don’t you wait to get the best anything? Funny how people can get on Unilocal and write a crappy review based on «rude» staff.
I like the sick & well waiting rooms. Getting an appointment has not been an issue. Also maybe if more people thought about the reason why they might be running behind. Not everything happens the way someone «believes» it should be done. I wait not because I don’t have anything to do but because I know that if something is wrong with my kids and one of the doctors has to spend extra time for whatever unpredictable event is happening. Also, I’ve never had a problem getting a message to the pediatricians. I did have to pay cash for our baby to be seen during first month. It was $ 110 for first visit & $ 90 for a follow up. I know this part is out of their control. I think it’s a fair price to pay for a newborn exam. Some people complain about the prices but as the saying goes you pay for what you get. If. You want cheap i recommend driving to downtown LB and find a walk in clinic. I’d just like to say thank you to all the pediatricians who continue to provide quality care in this day of crappy HMO capitations that pay mere cents.

I really like this practice, been coming here for over 2 years. (we have PPO Insurance) I feel that the new location has made me love it more. Better parking, don’t have to pay for parking anymore. This location is brand new and clean. Those reasons prior were why I wasn’t as big of a fan of the old location.
The staff is friendly the doctors and nurses always been professional and nice to my Son. We have seen several of the doctors over the years. Dr McCormick, Dr. Lau, Dr. McFarland, and Dr Gaoghahan are our fav’s. My son does the best with Dr. Lau so we try to see him most. They are great about sick visits when I have called to get him seen the same day. The on-​call docs have always been helpful especially in the beginning when I was a new Mom they never made me feel bad for calling with questions and on dosing of meds.
We have never had issues with the staff as some have commented about. The only time we have waiting a while was on same day sick visits, which is to be expected since we did not have a scheduled appt weeks in advance… people need to understand they are working you into the current schedule… so you may wait a lil bit!
I am excited to see all the changes with the new location and and very happy they moved to a more convenient location, and parking situation.
I definitely recommend this practice to my friends since I trust them with my own son’s care.

These people are still so rude! The doctors are great but the nurses/​receptionist are rude. Still looking for a new pediatrician to take my kids to.

Terrible parking situation. The office staff has a nasty, terrible attitude. This excludes dr McCormick and Lao. The wait is always a minimum of 30 min. I wrote a more detailed tip earlier last year warning people about this place. (I have ppo insurance btw) You are much better off going to memorial care offices which are conveniently located all over long beach.
Who ever is In charge of the office manager and the billing clerk/​manager just know you are losing the solid reputation you used to have because of these people.

Herro!
Don’t bother trying to make an appointment while at this office, you’ll be told to go home and call in. Apparently making an appointment face to face is just too much work for the office staff here.
I called in to reschedule my sons’ one year well check appointment. The receptionist on the phone was not helpful and copped an attitude worthy of an episode of Real Housewives.
After offering an appoint time I can make I accept with «Yes, that’s fine». She then asked «So you would like to keep your original appointment?». I told her no and that I wanted the appointment she just offered me.
She raised her voice and responded irately with «Well, all you said was ‘yes, that’s fine.’».
WTF did she think that meant?
The office staff is rude, lazy, condescending and argumentative. If it weren’t for Dr. Lau I would not come here.